Do you remember Heart of Grace, when we told you we were doing something new with our missions efforts? Well, we wanted to keep you updated, because it has a few changes that affect you, too!
And since YOU ARE THE CHURCH (and my favorite church family!), we need you to stay in the game. So here’s the game plan:
New Teams
We have officially established two councils, Reach Local and Reach Global (both were formerly under Extend). Reach Local focuses on ministry opportunities in Newton and the surrounding areas. Reach Global covers our national and international efforts. These teams are off and running and we hope you’ll be hearing from them soon. Go, teams, go!
New Strategy
We have restructured our priorities to include getting our people (THAT’S YOU!) more personally engaged with those we support. We believe we haven’t been connected enough. Many of our people don’t know who our missionaries are, and some don’t even know why we believe in sending and supporting missionaries in the first place (3 John 5–8). So, we are shifting our focus from just sending a check, to building a relationship.
This shift in focus must take place, but it comes with change.
In order to do this most effectively, we are changing how and who we support through our church budget starting next year. We’ll be focusing on a smaller number of missionaries & organizations, and shifting our support to include an annual review and renewal process.
We pray this new approach will allow for better communication, you all having a deeper knowledge of those we support, higher church engagement (personal giving and communication), and increased opportunities for involvement (trips and projects).
New Missions Expo
Every year we’ll invite our missionary friends (even some we don’t support through our church budget) to share what God is doing through their work. We pray this will build stronger relationships between missionaries and supporting church members. We’ll have more information on that later.
We are excited for our new teams and our new focus, and we hope you are too! We look forward to our continued partnership with you in the Lord’s work.
Grace and peace to you,
Juli Dirks, Executive Director of Ministries